One of the Michigan women's soccer team's most irritating situations is when it can't seem to find anyone to step up in a crucial moment, especially a penalty kick. But Friday's reluctant surprise salvaged the weekend.

Midway through of the second half of Fridays game, senior midfielder Alex Jendrusch flawlessly netted a penalty kick after an unintentional handball. The Wolverines continued to play very conservatively to preserve a 1-1 stalemate.

“I didn’t tell them anything on the penalty kick,” Michigan coach Greg Ryan said. “I was just looking for somebody to take it. I looked out at a couple people and they said they didn’t want it, but Alex stepped up. She buried it, but in a million years I wouldn’t have picked Alex to take it. But a penalty kick is psychological, and Alex wanted it.”

This weekend, the team wanted its first win since Sept. 20, but it only managed to force Minnesota and Wisconsin into draws. Michigan (0-2-5 Big Ten, 5-7-5 overall) effectively held two high-scoring offenses to collectively just one tally in 1-1 and 0-0 ties, respectively.

The games told similar stories.

On Friday, the Golden Gophers (3-3-2, 10-5-3) got off to a quick start by scoring in the first 45 seconds of the game.

“As a defense, we need to play tight,” Michigan coach Greg Ryan said. “It was a simple breakaway for them.”

With a young defense — and helped by a lot of rain — the Wolverines prevented Minnesota from scoring for the rest of the game.

On Sunday, the Michigan defense held the Wisconsin offense scoreless. Redshirt freshman Haley Kopmeyer recorded her fifth shutout of the season, to tie Michigan's rookie shutout record.

The Badgers (4-1-4, 8-5-5) are just one of two teams in the Big Ten that rank lower than Michigan in goals scored, but, Wisconsin’s offense played much more aggressively. In the first half, it put up 10 shots against the Wolverines. The Badgers missed one opportunity off of a free kick when a Wisconsin forward took a shot about six yards back, but Kopmeyer was there for the save.

Junior forward Amanda Bowery couldn't capitalize on her two scoring opportunities, and both looked like great chances to take advantage of a weak Badger defense that is second-worst in the conference in goals allowed. But both times, Bowery was forced to take a shot from about 25 yards out of range and in traffic. Just like during the rest of the season, the offense did not play aggressively enough.

“They played a 4-2, and when they get to a certain distance you can’t really play through ball,” Bowery said. “You have to pass or you have to shoot, and shooting was the only option.”